Bum, Golf, Film, Eh

So last night was Loy Krathong, the thai thanksgiving festival. I bought a boat for 40 baht off of a young girl who had set up shop along Prayathit. We went to the Pier to watch the festivities. I took a number of videos, as it is hard to explain. We lit the insence and candle, and put our little boat afloat in the Chao Phraya River. The most spectacualr thing were this magnificent paper laterns, with some sort of wick and coil, that people were lighting on fire and sending off to the sky. Overhead, Flickering Lights could be seen for miles. It was beautiful. Khaosan was a zoo though, as the Thai teens and 20somethings stayed in the neighboorhood to party afterwards. At one point, we pass a bunch of stacked cages, each contains the smallest tinyest bunny rabbit I have ever seen, and many are in little tiny dresses. It was ridiculous cute. They were selling them for 130baht, or about $4. There was a larger sized cage with a multitude of bunnys. There was a little boy playing with the bunnys, he was about eight, or ten years old. He was holding them up for me to see, and looked so excited, like the happiest little boy ever. This morning, I saw him sprawled out, alone, sleeping on the street. Additionally, at the festival last night, everyone was purchasing their little boat for 30, 40, 50 baht. Mikae and I were walking along the pier, and heard a splash. Looked over the railing, and there were children swimming through the river, the filthy, polluted beyond comprehension Chao Phraya river. At first, we couldn't figure out what they were doing. Relighting the candles that have gone out? Cleaning the non-biodegradble bits out of the water? After watching them for a bit, we realized that they were looking for boats that were still in good condition, so they could rescue them and try to resell on the street. Additionally, the ones that were not in good shape they were tearing to peices, trying to find any money that people had put in for offerings. We have tonnes of photos and videos of this, take a look on our flickr and You Tube Channels.

So our friend Ilias is just as cautious/paranoid/aware as Mikae, and the two of them had a chat about safety in South East Asia travels. Obviously, most of the talk was about keeping your guard up etc, as we are in a big city, and a third world country as well. We have had several instances when we fealt a little like we had to have our guard up, nothing serious, but slightly off during our stay here. He said that the place he felt safest in Thailand was Ko Phi Phi, where my friend Paulina had stayed for a long time, and where the Tsunami hit. He also said that the other coast did not have the same vibe, plus the weather is not as nice at this time of year, so we have taken his advice and headed to Phi Phi instead of KoTao. Phi Phi is more expensive, but he has given us a phone number of a local business owner who is from Seattle originally, and we have spoken to him. Derrick (is his name) is going to help us find a place to stay, as he obviously knows hotel owners in the area. Derrick apparently, came to Thailand seven years ago with two boxes of used books and set up shop. He now owns a chain of bookstores all accross Thailand, called D's books. He lives in Phi Phi and his entire family is there at the moment, including his mother.

I think we are going to take a train. It is a long haul at 12-15 hours, while the plane is only 1.25 hours. We could take a plane on Air Asia for 899baht plus tax. Would come out to about $108 CAD to fly to Krabi, a little more for Puket, but we would need to pay to get the airport, all those nicely priced in airport meals etc, and stay here another night for $35. Afterwards, we would still need to take transportation from airport to ferry, and then the ferry to Ko Phi Phi. Plus, then, I would have to be on a plane which, Lets say...I haven't built my defences up again yet. The train we can take from Humpaung Station which is a short cab ride from here to China Town. We have decided to take a first class sleeper express, which is about the most expensive option. Third class is fan, open windows, bench seats, and no foreigners. Second class is bench seats that convert into sleeping areas, one on top of another, with a simple curtain for privacy. First class is Air Conditioning, private room for two people, bunk beds, lockable door. I will confirm the details regarding price etc after we visit the train station tommorrow.

Thai People we have met so far with memorable names. Bum, Golf, Film, Eh.

Bum owns Extreme Travel, behind the D&D. We met him through Bob. He also owns the cute coffee shop we have been plugging our laptops in each day, the internet cafe, and a bunch of coin operated water filtration machines (osmosis?). He is also building a boutique hotel in the neighboorhood, that Mikae and Bob went to check out today. He is very forward thinking. Its hysterical. He has a thumbprint scanner login for his employees, he has this laptop plugin area which is surprising for Khaosan, and he takes courses in Fengshui.. so the coffeshop and internet area is designed with feng shui in mind. Interestingly, and we hear this is a very thai thing, he is so ambitious, obviously, but also incredibly laid back. Incredibly. The entire neighboorhood of Khaosan is swarming with cats and dogs. The cats are everywhere. Bum runs trips to a Tiger Refugee Temple run by monks. He is always talking about getting rid of the cats. Bob does soem research and finds out that if he takes some tiger excrement and places it descreetly around their area, the cats wont come. So, they collect some dung, hang it in socks where the cats are accessing the courtyard. It works for a while. Then, one of the thais working there carefully scouts and removes all of the socks. Why? Well, he missed playing with the cats. The man who makes the coffee though, is extremely passionate about his coffee, and makes them with so much care. Apparently Bum sent him to courses to learn all these Barrista tecniques, and he loves his job. We might make a website for Bum, so we shall see what happens.

Right beside all of this D&D courtyard is a little cafe called Ranees. We have gone there twice. It is run by a Thai and Australian couple. They make their own bagettes and pasta fresh daily. The menu is extensive, and the vegetarian options are incredible. We sampled the red curry, green curry and penang curry each for 70baht or about $2.20 . Steamed rice for 10baht 35 cents. Mikae had Fresh Pasta with Pesto for 120 baht or about $4. It was deleicious, and made with thai basil. The restaurant has its own tiny courtyard, and it is beautiful. Its places like this that make you understand why people can so comfortably laze their days away here in the Khaosan neighboorhood. Plus, a large Chang is 75baht.